The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot
"The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot" is the 2nd segment in the 18th episode of the first season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on April 12, 2002, on Nickelodeon. Plot Summary One night, when Dib is watching Mysterious Mysteries, the show features a segment on Chickenfoot, a mysterious being that is obviously a guy in a suit. But when Professor Membrane brings home a group of foreign dignitaries, they mock Dib, assuming that he believes in something as stupid as Chickenfoot. Dib is exasperated that because Mysterious Mysteries is getting desperate for ratings, the Chickenfoot story is undermining everything that "serious paranormal studies stand for" and decides to put an end to it. The first place he goes to is Chicky Licky, the restaurant where Chickenfoot was first seen. When he inquires the staff about the "demon beast", the manager takes Dib back to the freezer to talk. The manager gives Dib a dirty chicken toy (which can be used as a grappling hook), as well as information on how to find Chickenfoot's apartment. After following his directions, Dib finds the right building but can't locate the apartment number. While he is looking at the directory, a man in a trench coat walks by, leaving a trail of feathers. Dib assumes this man is Chickenfoot and runs after him. Unfortunately, once Dib catches up with him, the mysterious man reveals himself to be Turkeyneck. The misunderstanding is cleared up after Dib explains everything, and Turkeyneck points the way to Chickenfoot's apartment. At long last, Dib finds the legendary Chickenfoot in a cluttered apartment filled with chickens and decorated to look like a chicken coop. Dib corners him and Chickenfoot explains his story. He was once a man named Chewie Rodriguez, who worked as Chicky Licky's mascot. One night, while Chewie was wearing the suit and cooking chicken in a microwave, the microwave was splashed with water, generating an explosion that "created an unholy fusion of man and chicken." Dib quickly realizes that the explosion merely caused the zipper on the chicken suit to become stuck, but Chickenfoot doesn't believe him, claiming that now only the assorted Chicky Licky toys are his friends, but is sad he could not obtain the dirty chicken toy. Dib convinces him to go to the hospital in return for the toy. The doctor at the hospital explains to Chewie, using an x-ray that it's just a costume, while Dib calls Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery. But when the doctor attempts to pull the zipper, Chewie panics, unwilling to accept the truth, and runs away. Dib uses the grappling hook on the dirty chicken toy to latch onto the costume's zipper. Just as the Mysterious Mysteries people show up, Chewie's costume comes off in front of dozens of cameras. Dib explains that Chickenfoot was a fake, using the costume as proof. For once, everyone believes Dib as he established that paranormal investigators aren't idiots who believe anything, and that they disprove theories as well as prove them, however his victory is short lived as the exposure of Chickenfoot as a fake now has everyone believing that everything isn't real, including Bigfoot, aliens and hobos. Dib of course isn't too happy about this, but he's glad the whole ordeal is over. Meanwhile, at the Krazy Taco, an employee in a taco costume is engulfed in an microwave explosion and believes he had turned into a taco. Facts of Doom Cultural References *Turkeyneck's claim that children are always after his lucky neck meats is a reference to the Lucky Charms brand of cereal, in which the leprechaun mascot for Lucky Charms cereal claims children are always after his 'lucky charms'. *The Chicky Licky restaurant is a reference to the Chick-fil-A and Kentucky Fried Chicken eateries. *The Krazy Taco restaurant is a parody of Taco Bell. *When Bill called Chickenfoot a "Space Chicken", that might have been a reference to the Courage the Cowardly Dog pilot episode "The Chicken from Outer Space." Trivia *Zim doesn't appear in this episode; this is the third and last episode that he's not featured in, the first two being "Battle-Dib" and then "Game Slave 2". **Gaz doesn't appear in this episode and neither does GIR. *Bill makes a brief re-appearance during the episode of "Mysterious Mysteries", unknowingly more once getting on Dib's bad side. *Bill may have foreshadowed the events of "Gaz, Taster of Pork" when he mentioned "Pig Demons." *People have said there has been a Bloody GIR seen after the microwave explodes. It's unknown if this statement is true. *This episode, along with "Abducted", is a part of the second season in Australia, due to it airing after all the other aired Season 2 episodes in America.http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/142708 *This is one of Eric Trueheart's favorite episodes. This is also, however, one of Richard Horvitz least favorite episodes (like "Game Slave 2") because Zim doesn't appear. *In the beginning of the episode, it's shown that Maria and Eric apparently hate Chickenfoot. However, in a flashback, they seemed to be good friends with Chewy. *This episode is incorrectly listed as "The Sad, Sad Story of Chickenfoot" on Amazon Instant Video. *In ''Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus'', Chewie's Chickenfoot costume is seen in Dib's garage among all the other evidence from his various adventures. Things You Might Have Missed *When Dib is reading the apartment listings, he mentions "Trueheart", meaning that he lives somewhere in the hotel in the episode. Also, "E. Trueheart" can be seen on the listings. Eric Trueheart was the individual who wrote this episode. *When the Cultural Leaders are in Dib's house, you can see that there are flags on top of the monitors. Though the leaders are foreign, none of the flags represent any actual country, this is probably because Jhonen Vasquez didn't want to bring any real life places in the Invader Zim universe. *One of the Nhar-Gh'ok makes a cameo appearance in the Chicky Licky restaurant. Inconsistencies and Animation Errors *When Dib first used the Dirty Chicken Toy, its head came off as a grappling hook. However, in the later parts of the episode, only the beak deployed when the grappling hook was used. *Right after Dib entered the freezer, there was an axe next to a light switch; later, when the manager was hiding behind a barrel, the axe was gone. See also *The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot (Transcript) *The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot Screenshots References es:La triste triste historia del pie de pollo Category:Season 1 Category:Episodes Category:Screenshots